in General
Vibrant Gujarat 2013 Day #1 – Perspective in 12 Tweets
Madhu Kishwar shared a dozen tweets which summed up her takeaways from the first day of Vibrant Gujarat 2013. My personal favorites are #5, #6, and #9. 16 Even at risk of being damned for life by my secularist leftist friends, can't help but say Gujarat Summit very impressive. Had heard… — MadhuPurnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) …
in Investing
Indian Social Enterprises Getting a Silicon Valley Makeover
TechCrunch reports that Bangalore/Seattle-based Unitus Seed Fund got a fresh infusion of $8 million from a bevy of A-list investors – from Silicon Valley and Bangalore. I believe the entry of the Silicon Valley investors represents a major inflection point for the Indian social enterprise ecosystem. A major inflection point — not because there’s an …
in Challenges
Announcing Tata Social Enterprise Challenge
2012 has been the year of social enterprise challenges and social enterprise incubators in India. The exciting addition to the former is Tata Group’s announcement of the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge, a joint initiative with IIM Calcutta. Details below. TATA Social Enterprise Challenge – A Joint Initiative with IIM Calcutta aims to be India’s …
in Watsan
Most Indian men are Cambridge Men
At some point in your school (or college) years, you might have heard of this joke. Following the annual debate competition between Oxford University and Cambridge University, a few male members of both contingents were ‘cracking the porcelain’ at the restroom. The Oxford man finished first. As he meticulously washed his hands, he noticed the Cambridge …
in People
Meet the Indian Howard Lutnick: actually you know him well
If this is the first time you’ve heard of Howard Lutnick (or Cantor Fitzgerald), do read this, this, and this. Yesterday, I came across a FUCCHA post that listed out a long list of wonderfully humanitarian things that Ratan Tata did after 26/11 – not just for the Taj employees but for a veritable ecosystem of people/establishments around …
in Challenges
Siemens Stiftung announces the Empowering People Award
[Update: The deadline for the award application has been extended to Jan 31, 2013.] Munich-based Siemens Stiftung (“foundation” in German) wants to identify efficient technical solutions which empower people in developing and emerging countries to independently combat existential problems through the empowering people. Award (yeah – that’s exactly how the award is named). The Siemens …
in Watsan
Once upon a time in Seattle
B was born into an upper middle class family in Seattle. Born in the mid 1950s, B had two sisters and showed early signs of competitiveness when he organized family athletic games at their summer house. B was a voracious reader as a child, spending many hours poring over reference books, and also relished playing board …
in Investing
Justrojgar – India’s newest BOP employment exchange
Seattle and Bangalore-based Upaya Social Ventures alerted me about their recent investment into Justrojgar.com. While terms of the deal are not disclosed, Upaya has previously announced that their seed investments are in the $25,000 to $75,000 so Justrojgar is likely within that range. The press release blurb sets the context for Justrojgar thus: Justrojgar was designed as …
in Challenges
Rockefeller Innovation Challenge Winners
Back in May, I wrote about Rockefeller Foundation’s Innovation Challenge 2012 – a call for ideas in three key areas (Farming, Irrigation and Decoding Data). The panel of judges selected fifteen finalists (of which eight were invited to make grant applications) from a wide global pool of applicants. This was announced four months ago but, …
in Agri
Making Knowledge Mobile: Agricultural Advice Only a Phone Call Away for Indian Farmers
[Editor’s Note: CABI is a not-for-profit international organization that improves people’s lives by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. In this guest post, Sharbendu Banerjee (CABI Project Manager) gets into the heart of an agricultural extension mobile service developed by CABI in partnership with Airtel and IFFCO. Previously …
